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North Okanagan E fire, 8 July 2021 North Okanagan E

Out · last detection 26 Aug 2021, 09:02 UTC

The fire started on 8 July 2021 in North Okanagan E, Canada, and satellites saw it burning for 58 days. Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) mapped an official burnt perimeter of 1,446 hectares from satellite imagery, spread across a single census subdivision.

It is the 356th largest in British Columbia since 2016 (of 448 with a page). Number 263 in Canada in 2021, of 304.

Compare with…

Suggestions: North Okanagan F · 2021North Okanagan E · 2024North Okanagan F · 2018North Okanagan E · 2021

Burnt area
1,446ha
official perimeter (CWFIS)
Duration
58days
8 Jul 2021 – 3 Sept 2021
Census subdivisions hit
1
municipalities
Started on
8 Jul
2021
Heat detections
380
in a single hotspot: 225 MW
Danger at start
13
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
134MW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 8 Jul3 Sept
26 Aug 2021

How it evolved, day by day

11 Jul 2021 · 11 MW · 3 12 Jul 2021 · 20 MW · 5 13 Jul 2021 · 32 MW · 7 14 Jul 2021 · 32 MW · 10 15 Jul 2021 · 481 MW · 30 16 Jul 2021 · 121 MW · 17 17 Jul 2021 · 287 MW · 26 18 Jul 2021 · 614 MW · 17 19 Jul 2021 · 104 MW · 25 20 Jul 2021 · 46 MW · 10 21 Jul 2021 · 7 MW · 6 22 Jul 2021 · 7 MW · 5 23 Jul 2021 · 2 MW · 1 24 Jul 2021 · 3 MW · 3 25 Jul 2021 · 67 MW · 7 26 Jul 2021 · 1,082 MW · 49 27 Jul 2021 · 100 MW · 19 28 Jul 2021 · 49 MW · 11 29 Jul 2021 · 83 MW · 10 30 Jul 2021 · 123 MW · 30 31 Jul 2021 · 223 MW · 27 3 Aug 2021 · 4 MW · 2 4 Aug 2021 · 163 MW · 6 5 Aug 2021 · 255 MW · 14 6 Aug 2021 · 23 MW · 5 11 Aug 2021 · 3 MW · 1 12 Aug 2021 · 7 MW · 5 13 Aug 2021 · 19 MW · 4 14 Aug 2021 · 82 MW · 11 15 Aug 2021 · 240 MW · 12 25 Aug 2021 · 3 MW · 1 26 Aug 2021 · 1 MW · 1
11 Jul 16 Jul 21 Jul 26 Jul 31 Jul 11 Aug 25 Aug

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

34°high
68km/h · peak gust
10%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.4 mm on 10 Sept.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

How big is it?

10 km
It burned the equivalent of 0.9% of the area of London (14 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each census subdivision

  1. North Okanagan E where it started
    1,449 ha reached on 11 Jul
    0.6 %

Burnt area inside each census subdivision, from crossing the official perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2020
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2020, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

The weather day by day

ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
8 Jul 29.1 °C 26 % 21 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 13
9 Jul 29.2 °C 32 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
10 Jul 31.3 °C 15 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
11 Jul 29.3 °C 20 % 43 km/h 0.1 mm High 27
12 Jul 30.6 °C 16 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
13 Jul 32.3 °C 16 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
14 Jul 31.6 °C 15 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
15 Jul 29.1 °C 23 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
16 Jul 28.1 °C 29 % 42 km/h 1.0 mm Moderate 19
17 Jul 27.2 °C 29 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 21
18 Jul 29.2 °C 24 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
19 Jul 31.1 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
20 Jul 28.7 °C 21 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
21 Jul 24.2 °C 22 % 53 km/h 0.4 mm High 32
22 Jul 21.9 °C 22 % 46 km/h 0.3 mm High 31
23 Jul 23.7 °C 27 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
24 Jul 28.2 °C 24 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
25 Jul 29.1 °C 20 % 55 km/h 0.1 mm High 32
26 Jul 30.2 °C 16 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
27 Jul 29.6 °C 20 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
28 Jul 31.5 °C 17 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
29 Jul 32.1 °C 16 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
30 Jul 34.5 °C 10 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
31 Jul 34.4 °C 19 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 38
1 Aug 28.6 °C 33 % 48 km/h 1.1 mm Moderate 21
2 Aug 26.6 °C 47 % 35 km/h 1.5 mm Low 10
3 Aug 31.0 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
4 Aug 29.4 °C 25 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
5 Aug 30.6 °C 21 % 37 km/h 0.9 mm High 29
6 Aug 24.4 °C 35 % 58 km/h 0.1 mm High 30
7 Aug 19.9 °C 45 % 49 km/h 3.8 mm Very low 4
8 Aug 18.5 °C 66 % 33 km/h 7.4 mm Very low 0
9 Aug 22.7 °C 46 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
10 Aug 22.6 °C 48 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
11 Aug 28.6 °C 21 % 62 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
12 Aug 29.4 °C 23 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
13 Aug 31.0 °C 17 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
14 Aug 31.9 °C 20 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
15 Aug 30.4 °C 20 % 68 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
16 Aug 21.9 °C 41 % 45 km/h 12.2 mm Very low 1
17 Aug 15.5 °C 72 % 36 km/h 13.8 mm Very low 0
18 Aug 24.0 °C 31 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
19 Aug 21.4 °C 47 % 44 km/h 1.4 mm Very low 2
20 Aug 21.6 °C 43 % 18 km/h 0.8 mm Very low 3
21 Aug 21.3 °C 49 % 26 km/h 4.0 mm Very low 1
22 Aug 16.4 °C 53 % 58 km/h 15.2 mm Very low 0
23 Aug 14.2 °C 53 % 32 km/h 1.3 mm Very low 0
24 Aug 19.0 °C 39 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
25 Aug 22.5 °C 30 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
26 Aug 19.5 °C 44 % 36 km/h 3.9 mm Very low 1
27 Aug 16.6 °C 61 % 42 km/h 5.1 mm Very low 0
28 Aug 21.0 °C 40 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 1
29 Aug 25.2 °C 28 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Low 5
30 Aug 22.1 °C 31 % 35 km/h 1.6 mm Very low 3
31 Aug 11.5 °C 69 % 38 km/h 10.5 mm Very low 0
1 Sept 14.7 °C 58 % 27 km/h 2.1 mm Very low 0
2 Sept 17.7 °C 45 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 0
3 Sept 21.9 °C 28 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 2
4 Sept after 21.2 °C 35 % 27 km/h 0.3 mm Low 5
5 Sept after 20.6 °C 44 % 48 km/h 0.1 mm Low 7
6 Sept after 20.9 °C 37 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
7 Sept after 25.8 °C 33 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Low 9
8 Sept after 20.3 °C 49 % 38 km/h 0.4 mm Low 9
9 Sept after 23.7 °C 36 % 37 km/h 0.1 mm Low 10
10 Sept after 22.4 °C 41 % 18 km/h 1.4 mm Very low 4

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 1 Jul 2021
After · 10 Sept 2021

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Detections table · 380Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Canada ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the North Okanagan E fire last?
It burned between 8 July 2021 and 3 September 2021: 58 days, according to the dates recorded by Canada’s CWFIS and the heat detections seen by satellite.
How much area did it burn?
The official perimeter mapped by Canada’s CWFIS (Natural Resources Canada) is 1,446 hectares (14.5 km²). Other tallies, such as those of provincial agencies, may give slightly different figures.
Which census subdivisions burned?
The fire only entered North Okanagan E (1,449 ha, 0.6 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.5 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 68 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 41, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the official burnt perimeter of Canada’s CWFIS (NBAC, Natural Resources Canada) or, for the current season and until NBAC publishes it, the one rebuilt by GWIS (Copernicus); from NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots; and from the administrative boundaries of Canada. It is not an official report.

Where to verify it

A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.

Emergency number: 911 · Emergency number and official warnings ›

Satellite cross-check

History of this page Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.

No changes since 24 October 2026.

RSS Changes to this page

Does something look wrong on this page?

This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.

Report an error
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We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 911.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: NBAC (Natural Resources Canada), official.
  • Dates from the perimeter: the VIIRS detections inside it did not change them. 380 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2020, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology ›

Where this data comes from

The perimeter is official: it comes from the National Burned Area Composite (NBAC) of the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System (CWFIS), Natural Resources Canada, which maps it on satellite imagery and publishes it under the Open Government Licence – Canada. Until NBAC publishes the current season, this year’s fires carry the perimeter rebuilt from heat detections by GWIS (Copernicus, CC BY 4.0), which is approximate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Census subdivision boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM3 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). The area per census subdivision is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ slightly from official figures.